Let Everyone Be Happy

Mayank Goel, CESP, JNU.

mayankgoel90@gmail.com

Our world is highly progressive in nature. Today, we have moved into an era where we have broken all the previous benchmarks established in the different spheres of life. Comparing present with our past, we can surely assert that the level of technology, modern facilities, machines, medicines, etc. is completely unprecedented. Every moment we are kind of augmenting our skills to innovate new things and techniques to do our activities. But, the world in general is experiencing massive increase in diseases, severe health problems, depression, mental breakdowns, physical inactivity, dilution of relations, rapes, murders, death, etc. People are dying young. In last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide (WHO). Over 450 million people suffer from a mental health problem or mental illness (National Institute of Mental Health, Office for national statistics mental health in children, mental health foundation, mind, rethink, London School of Economics). These things are happening in our vicinity that sometimes raise questions regarding the relation, if any, between the two perceived events.

Humans by nature are inquisitive to know ever since the dawn of life. Given the fact that we have imbibed higher intelligence in the evolution process, we try to manipulate our resources to overpower or control the material nature instead of surrendering to the material conditions like animals. This urge has been driving the development of our human society in the field of action where we work to change and create an artificial environment around us suitable to our comforts. To decipher upon the extent of our success, we must take care of two things. First, we should think whether we have been actually successful in overpowering nature or is it an illusion that makes us believe so or the situations have further worsened? What is it really? Secondly, we want to control the nature because we want to become independent as dependency is the cause of misery. In short, we do not want miseries inflicted upon us by nature in the form of Tsunamis, floods, famines, earthquakes, scorching heat, excessive cold, etc. We want to liberate ourselves of all sufferings and wish to live happily. So have we succeeded in it?

 All these technological developments and modern science are helping us to delay our sufferings only to be caused in a much intensified manner. (This is intact with the overall capitalist system in which growth is technology-led which does nothing but delays the crisis to be caused at some later date.) These advancements do give us pleasure and happiness by easing our life style but they are highly momentary and temporary. It is a cyclical process. More urge to enjoy gives more sufferings and more sufferings compel us to degrade our source of pleasure  and eventually we tend to locate our happy moments in small and petty things. Is this true development?

The true development is one where pleasure increases and the source of happiness is elevated in each cycle of development. This development is a boon for human civilisation as it is directed in the right direction. This leads us to the path of universal peace and harmony. Today, people are seeking pleasure in killing animals, boozing, hangovers, smoking, gambling, illicit sex and all kinds of commercialised conspicuous consumption. This is not the right development as it is animalistic in nature which has taken away humanity from our lives.

All these problems are the reflections from the mirror of ignorance. Thus, one of the best solutions is to promote the right knowledge. We need to understand why do societies develop or what is the driving force behind these material and technological developments. The essence of all our activities is to enjoy and become happy. Developments are no exception and they occur essentially to improve the well-being, standards of living, comfort levels, etc. in order to increase the state of happiness.

This is a point to ponder whether we have actually increased our happy state or augmented our sufferings. Since all human efforts or actions performed by any living entity, for that matter, is dualistic; characterised with the system of synthesis and antithesis based on our criteria or thesis. Thus, we ourselves create avenues that increase the miseries in the process to enjoy or become happy. When our intensions are not wrong then why the results are always contradictory? What is the nature that makes our actions dualistic? Little understanding of human psyche and human needs can make us aware and acknowledge the direction leading to humanity.

Basically, all humans have three kinds of needs; biological, social, and natural. Biological needs arise out of our body that mainly includes food, clothing, shelter that are mainly material in nature. The reason is that our body being made up of matter comprising five elements; earth, fire, water, air and space; the bodily needs are satisfied through these elements only.

The social needs arise out of the environment or the society in which we survive. These needs vary among humans according to their civilisation and are thus satisfied in the framework of that society. For example, in earlier societies people needed goods to exchange with other goods of consumption while today we need money to possess purchasing power. Social needs also include needs at the abstract level like emotional caring, etc.

The natural needs are difficult to perceive because they are the most subtle of all. These needs arise out of us being the spirit souls. The characteristic feature of soul is eternal, conscious and blissful.

na jayate mriyate va kadacin nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah |

ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire ||BG.2.20||

Thus, our natural needs are to achieve immortality, become fully knowledgeable and always be happy. Humans from time immemorial have this desire to overpower death, inquisitiveness to know and desire to do away with pains and sufferings. These natural needs thus form the base of all our other needs.

Our efforts are dualistic because of this distinction between our bodies and ourselves (spirit souls). Because we are souls, we want to be happy but as we are limited by our bodies we cannot work for the welfare of everyone and hence all our efforts are relative that create both positive and negative effects. Positive on one hand make us happy while the negative increases our miseries.

The modern scientists and technocrats promise to make us happy by increasing our comforts. The biggest advertisement going on is how to become happy immediately and forget about future as it is uncertain. Thus, we are discounting our future pains for temporary pleasures. But, in this world, there is no perfect substitution. We cannot substitute our pain with pleasure. At the best, the pains inherent in the processes can be garbed. We must accept the pains and pleasure as we accept summers and winters because they are bound to come in a cyclical way. As in seasonal changes, we want to maintain the temperature; similarly in changes of situations, we must try to maintain our feelings i.e. try to situate ourselves in equality (Equality is the foremost requirement for real happiness).

jneyah sa nitya-sannyasi yo na dvesti na kanksati |

nirdvandvo hi maha-baho sukham bandhat pramucyate ||BG.5.3||

One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known to be always renounced. Such a person, liberated from all dualities, easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, O mighty-armed Arjuna.

However, this material development is characterised by inequality that improves the situation of some at the cost of others. There are very few instances where everyone in general benefits but there also the margins of benefits differ greatly. This creates a divergence in the society between those who possess and those who do not. Thus, the overall process is very unequal. Knowing this, we must try to innovate or develop such a machine which doesn’t discount our sufferings by garbing them but promotes equality to achieve universal peace and harmony. Then, we can claim to live in a happy world and a true human civilisation!

The Choice is Ours

Mayank Goel, CESP, JNU.

mayankgoel90@gmail.com

Material science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering and their study in detail. It started ages ago but the major breakthrough occurred in late 19^th Century when William Gibbs demonstrated thermodynamics properties. Even then the scientists had no concept of evolution of life and the presence of such wide diversity of living entities on this planet until Darwin formulated his theory.

Sir Charles Darwin formulated his idea of ‘natural selection’ in 1838 and was developing his own theory of evolution till 1858. It was only towards the end of 1859 that Darwin’s publication on the origin of species explained natural selection in detail and presented evidence leading to increasingly wide acceptance of the occurrence of evolution. This caused uproar and implied that humans didn’t have a special place in the universe.

Darwin’s theory of evolution is a theory in crisis in light of the tremendous advances we have made in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics over the past 50 years. We now know that there is in fact many thousands of irreducibly complex structure on the cellular level also. Specified complexity pervades the microscopic biological world. Well known biologist, Michael Denton wrote “Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10^-12 grams; each in effect a veritable micro-miniaturised factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world.”

The amazing part is that to understand or observe this irreducible complexity we do not need a microscope. The eye, the ear and the heart; all are exemplary examples of this complexity though they are not recognised as such in Darwin’s theory. Darwin himself confessed, “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for adjusting different amounts of light and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration could have been formed by the natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”

However, even if we were to believe Darwin’s theory then it seems that the evolution has stopped ever since we became humans. What follows next, after we become humans is unknown to material scientist. For this reason, the present life seems to be purposeless, aimless which has forced all of us to follow the philosophy of ‘Eat, drink and be merry.’ Such an ideology is enforced by the material science because of the lack of perception regarding ‘soul’. Scientists think that they can prove and detect everything. It is indeed their biggest mistake! Just like the scientists can never see light but it is responsible for sight. In its presence, everything else becomes visible. Similarly, we can never detect soul but it is responsible for consciousness and life. In its presence, the dead matter becomes conscious. ‘Janmädy asya yato 'nvayäd itaratas cärthesv abhigyanah [SB 1.1.1]. That source of everything is life and is fully conscious of everything what is happening. Anvayät, indirectly and directly, fully conscious. That is life.’ Even Bhagavad-Gita confirms this in 2.13 ‘That which pervades the entire body through consciousness you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.’

It is not the evolution of matter because matter in itself is unconscious, non-living and an inferior energy. The conscious, living, spiritual energy is required to move matter and create new things. In the production process also, it is the labour that is the most important input as it augments the value of the material goods. It is the living entities that move the dead matter for their usage. Instead of the evolution of the bodies, it is the evolution of the soul from the lower consciousness to higher consciousness in different species of life or different material bodies. Darwin had simply visualised the matter and had completely failed to see the soul that drives this change. We are spirit souls entangled in various temporary bodies and are continuously transmigrating from one body to another  (B.G. 2.13). Constantly the cells within our bodies are changing that makes our bodies to change. This change is instituted by the presence of soul. Thus, we are regularly changing our bodies and are always in dynamism.

Soul is transmigrating from aquatic life to flora, then to insect life, bird life, animals, and finally to humans. Within humans also, the evolution occurs from uncivilised life to civilised life. This civilised life of a human represents the culmination of evolution due to the developed consciousness. Thus, this becomes the junction where nature provides us the choice to choose. Other species or forms of life have no choice because  their thinking ability is too low due to undeveloped consciousness. They can never manipulate or exploit their natural environment to make it adjust to themselves but it is rather the animals, plants, etc. that adjust themselves to nature via stimuli. It is only the human life that offers us this choice due to our fully developed consciousness. At this junction of life, we can either choose to glide down into the cyclical process of evolution or can choose to elevate ourselves to a higher consciousness, Godly life by the process of self realisation; possible only in this very unique life. Essentially, this becomes the sole purpose of human life which is distinct and unique; not available to other species. We should ponder if human life is not special then why evolution culminated at humans? Is it mere by chance?

The lack of knowledge and a higher understanding makes us believe this temporary world to be the top-most reality. But, even the great scientists like Albert Einstein felt that there is something beyond material perception unknown to material science. In his words, “Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discerning concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion.” He had idea about the spirit present beyond the matter. 

We can understand the nature of soul even from the unsatisfied quest we have. Everyone's struggle for existence and unending wish for immortality signifies the search for eternal life. This is the characteristic of soul; it is immortal. but, due to the material covering we perceive ourselves to be mere bodies. Only this human life can make us achieve eternal life because of our developed consciousness that we imbibe through the evolutionary process! Otherwise, mundane things are very easily done by animals. Directing our total time and energy to do those very ordinary things of eating, sleeping, mating and defending in more and more sophisticated way is total wastage of this special opportunity. We should live comfortably but should be aware of the ultimate goal and thus, work in the right direction. The real success is therefore in elevating ourselves ti the highest consciousness to complete the evolutionary process. But, the choice is ours.

References:

•  Cremo, Michael A. and Thompson, Richard L.; Human Devolution
•  Darwin, Charles; The Origin of Species, and The Descent of Man
• Denton, Michael; Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.
• Prabhupada, A.C. Bhaktivedanta; Life comes from life